Royal Potato Salad

My current favorite cookbook is Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi.  His collection of recipes, some of which are from his New Vegetarian column in The Guardian, are all amazingly fresh and vibrant.  With heavy influences from Asia and the Middle East, all of his recipes offer an exciting combination of flavors - even meat lovers, like Cy, won't be disappointed ;)

This Royal potato salad is definitely not your typical full-of-mayo potato salad.  It bursts with flavor from all the fresh herbs like parsley, basil, and mint. It's easy to make ahead and keep in the fridge for a quick lunch, great as a side for dinner, and perfect for a nice outdoor picnic.  

ROYAL POTATO SALAD

adapted from the cookbook Plenty

serves 4-6

Ingredients:

1.5lbs...Potatoes *you can use Royal, or really any kind that's preferably firm

1cup.....Petite Peas *frozen works fine here

12-15....Quail Eggs

1cup.....Basil leaves

1/2cup...Parsley leaves

1/3cup...Pine Nuts *you can replace pine nuts with any kind of nut really (almond, walnuts, etc)

1/2cup...Shredded Parmesan cheese

2............Garlic cloves, crushed

1cup......Olive oil

1/2tsp....White wine vinegar

A bunch of Mint leaves, finely chopped

Directions:

1.  Place quail eggs in a pot with plenty of water and bring to a boil.  Cook for approx. 1-2min depending on how runny or cooked you want to yolks.  Flash with cold water and peel the shell carefully.

2.  Flash boil the peas for approx. 30seconds in boiling water.  Drain and put aside.

3.  Cut potatoes into bite-size pieces and cook in a pot of boiling water for approximately 15min.  or until you can just pierce with a fork (you don't want potatoes to be too soft) T

4.  While the potatoes are cooking, make pesto with the basil, parsley, and pine nuts, parmesan, and olive oil.  Add everything in a food processor and blend until you get a runny pesto.  

5.  Carefully mix the pesto, the vinegar, the shredded mint, and peas with the potatoes in a bowl.  Then carefully fold in the quail eggs (cut in halves).  Add salt and pepper - taste to adjust.